Riot police detained church minister for evangelization
Minister of New Life Church (Full Gospel Churches Association) Siarhei Lukanin was detained by riot policemen for evangelization in Minsk.
Siarhei Lukanin said that after a Sunday service, at about 3 p.m. he and two churchwomen decided to address Minsk dwellers with street preaching. “We came near an open skating rink in Victors’ Avenue, and with permission of the administration addressed people via public address equipment with an offer to participate in a common prayer. When about a hundred people gathered around us, I told people about God, that Lord Jesus Christ not only helps people to be cured from such vices as drug and alcohol addiction, but gives force to live a holy life,” S. Lukanin said.
He says, a person in mufti approached him in this moment. He didn’t present himself. He asked for an official permission for preaching in a public venue. “I answered that I do not have such a permission, and then asked people who had gathered there, whether they want me to continue evangelization. Nobody opposed, I continued to speak about God, despite of the threats of the person in mufti who said he would call in police. When I started to speak about a prayer of repentance, in which one can repent sins in the face of God, an ensign and a staff sergeant of riot police emerged. They harshly said to me to leave the territory of the skating rink. Despite of my requests to finish the prayer policemen tied me and took me behind the building of the Palace of Sports, threatening by imprisonment. I answered that I would speak about Jesus Christ in prison too. Only after I managed to produce the certificate of a church minister, riot policemen copied my passport details, apologized and told that they acted on an order and according to the law,” S. Lukanin said.
He noted that once again he faced of Belarusian legislation on religion, which contradicts the Constitution of Belarus and the Bible. “They prohibit me, a Christian, who according to the Bible is to preach the Gospel, to do so,” S. Lukanin said. He is going to continue evangelization in the future.
